Three urgent tasks
06/03/16 05:15
This Lent I have been leading a series of discussions roughly based on a small volume Walter Brueggemann published a couple of years ago in which he discusses three urgent prophetic tasks. Drawing a comparison between the ancient destruction of Jerusalem and the attacks of 9/11, he looks for the prophetic voices that are carrying God’s message in our time. The discussions in our church have been a bit less focused and a bit less pointed than Brueggemann’s book, but they have nonetheless been helpful.
The three urgent prophetic tasks outlined by Brueggeman are these: To be a voice of reality in a culture of ideology; To be a voice of grief in a culture of denial; and To be a voice of hope in a world of despair. It is not difficult to see that those tasks are needed in contemporary American culture.
We have no shortage of ideologues, who are quick to offer their rhetoric. Their proclamations of how they wish the world might be - or of how they want the world to be - are often received as if they are speaking the truth. Yet it is obvious, upon examination, that they have placed their ideologies over the simple facts and realities of our world. While the politicians argue over their ideologies of immigration, the fact is that the world is experiencing a refugee crisis. While the politicians argue over their ideologies of gun control, the fact is that gun violence is rampant in our nation. The current cycle of presidential politics has been rife with ideologies, and short on realities. Politicians seem to have no problem whatsoever making promises upon which it would be impossible for them to deliver. While everyone is arguing their ideologies, the truth is that no one has been able to motivate our divided congress to engage in actual legislation and the fulfillment of their constitutional duties.
We have no shortage of denial. There are many ways in which our culture has experienced dramatic shifts. Some of the old ways are forever gone, and we are grieving their loss. The denial of the loss and the claim that we can simply go back is not helping. Our nation once was one where the majority of the people lived in rural communities. The family farm was not only the center of the production of food, but also of the care of the land. Those days have passed with the increasing urbanization of the nation and the growth of corporate farming. And we grieve the changes. The loss of those family farms is real. Denying that loss is not ministering to the needs of the people. There have been dramatic changes in the family in a single generation. The average age of first marriage has gone up by nearly a decade. Most young adults live through a series of relationships and break-ups before they marry. Children are born later in their parents’ lives. It is common for children to experience one or two major reconfigurations of their families in their lifetime that include the coming of stepparents and step siblings and major changes in the place of residence. We grief the loss of the simplicity that was experienced by earlier generations. Denying that the shift has occurred, however, denies the care that is needed for the children growing up in the reality of today’s culture. Our people need leaders who are able to grieve their losses of family with them, not ones who preach some alternate reality that is inaccessible to them.
And, I believe, the most urgent task of this generation is to carry the message of hope amidst the despair. It isn’t hard to find a politician who makes extensive lists of what is wrong in the world today. The simple message of as recent campaign as the 2008 Presidential election is now listed as one of the signs of the things that have gone wrong by some. It seems that if one wants to gain attention and votes all that is required is to have a constant stream of anecdotes that illustrate the adage, “the world has gone to hell in a handbasket.” What we need are more voices willing to counter this expression in the fashion demonstrated by the English preacher Thomas Adams, who in 1618, referred to “going to heaven in a wheelbarrow” in “God’s Bounty on Proverbs.” Actually Adams’ message was pretty similar to the voices of despair, but the impact of that message was that a new expression entered the discourse.
The core of the Christian message has always been hope. And, as I have often said, hope is not an ideology. The word is often used as a part of the expression of an ideology, but genuine hope is not found in stating what you want or wish might happen. Hope is not wishing that bad things will not occur. Genuine hope is found in the deep revelation that in the darkest hours, when the words you can imagine comes to pass, you have not been abandoned by God. There is one to stand alongside you in the most difficult and painful experiences of this life.
That is a radically different message than the one spouted by the candidates. Hope doesn’t lie in the promise that you will have to pay fewer taxes. It lies in the assurance that you will not be abandoned by society when you experience financial failure. Hope doesn’t lie in the notion that walls and weapons and laws can isolate you from those who are different and who might seem threatening to you. Hope lies in building community and learning to live with our differences. Hope doesn’t lie in crushing your opponents. It lies in loving your enemies.
I’m no prophet. The Biblical prophets are few and far between. I’ve been called to be a pastor and stand alongside the people I serve more than I have been commissioned to deliver messages to them. Still, I have been called to preach to the community that I serve and I hope that I can at least be faithful to the Gospel in the words that I choose.
The three urgent prophetic tasks outlined by Brueggeman are these: To be a voice of reality in a culture of ideology; To be a voice of grief in a culture of denial; and To be a voice of hope in a world of despair. It is not difficult to see that those tasks are needed in contemporary American culture.
We have no shortage of ideologues, who are quick to offer their rhetoric. Their proclamations of how they wish the world might be - or of how they want the world to be - are often received as if they are speaking the truth. Yet it is obvious, upon examination, that they have placed their ideologies over the simple facts and realities of our world. While the politicians argue over their ideologies of immigration, the fact is that the world is experiencing a refugee crisis. While the politicians argue over their ideologies of gun control, the fact is that gun violence is rampant in our nation. The current cycle of presidential politics has been rife with ideologies, and short on realities. Politicians seem to have no problem whatsoever making promises upon which it would be impossible for them to deliver. While everyone is arguing their ideologies, the truth is that no one has been able to motivate our divided congress to engage in actual legislation and the fulfillment of their constitutional duties.
We have no shortage of denial. There are many ways in which our culture has experienced dramatic shifts. Some of the old ways are forever gone, and we are grieving their loss. The denial of the loss and the claim that we can simply go back is not helping. Our nation once was one where the majority of the people lived in rural communities. The family farm was not only the center of the production of food, but also of the care of the land. Those days have passed with the increasing urbanization of the nation and the growth of corporate farming. And we grieve the changes. The loss of those family farms is real. Denying that loss is not ministering to the needs of the people. There have been dramatic changes in the family in a single generation. The average age of first marriage has gone up by nearly a decade. Most young adults live through a series of relationships and break-ups before they marry. Children are born later in their parents’ lives. It is common for children to experience one or two major reconfigurations of their families in their lifetime that include the coming of stepparents and step siblings and major changes in the place of residence. We grief the loss of the simplicity that was experienced by earlier generations. Denying that the shift has occurred, however, denies the care that is needed for the children growing up in the reality of today’s culture. Our people need leaders who are able to grieve their losses of family with them, not ones who preach some alternate reality that is inaccessible to them.
And, I believe, the most urgent task of this generation is to carry the message of hope amidst the despair. It isn’t hard to find a politician who makes extensive lists of what is wrong in the world today. The simple message of as recent campaign as the 2008 Presidential election is now listed as one of the signs of the things that have gone wrong by some. It seems that if one wants to gain attention and votes all that is required is to have a constant stream of anecdotes that illustrate the adage, “the world has gone to hell in a handbasket.” What we need are more voices willing to counter this expression in the fashion demonstrated by the English preacher Thomas Adams, who in 1618, referred to “going to heaven in a wheelbarrow” in “God’s Bounty on Proverbs.” Actually Adams’ message was pretty similar to the voices of despair, but the impact of that message was that a new expression entered the discourse.
The core of the Christian message has always been hope. And, as I have often said, hope is not an ideology. The word is often used as a part of the expression of an ideology, but genuine hope is not found in stating what you want or wish might happen. Hope is not wishing that bad things will not occur. Genuine hope is found in the deep revelation that in the darkest hours, when the words you can imagine comes to pass, you have not been abandoned by God. There is one to stand alongside you in the most difficult and painful experiences of this life.
That is a radically different message than the one spouted by the candidates. Hope doesn’t lie in the promise that you will have to pay fewer taxes. It lies in the assurance that you will not be abandoned by society when you experience financial failure. Hope doesn’t lie in the notion that walls and weapons and laws can isolate you from those who are different and who might seem threatening to you. Hope lies in building community and learning to live with our differences. Hope doesn’t lie in crushing your opponents. It lies in loving your enemies.
I’m no prophet. The Biblical prophets are few and far between. I’ve been called to be a pastor and stand alongside the people I serve more than I have been commissioned to deliver messages to them. Still, I have been called to preach to the community that I serve and I hope that I can at least be faithful to the Gospel in the words that I choose.